I have been remiss over the past few days, blog-wise.  Sorry, I have just been too busy to update it! Sorry!

Walvis Bay in Namibia was wonderful. I went out into the desert and saw 600-year-old plants, called Walwitchsias. Very cool. Also saw some dunes, with people surfing down them, and a rocky part of the desert where long gone rivers had carved the rock into canyons.

Luderitz in Namibia was very disappointing.  We didn’t feel welcome and they really don’t know what tourists want or how to supply it.  Only one church had even made any postcards to sell, which, of course, I didn’t find.  Hmph.  Nice ones too.  Someone was kind enough to show me theirs. Grrr.

Then Cape Town. A lovely town, lovely landscape, magnificent views, great shopping and a very tourist-friendly town. After about midday. For some reason, before that, people were very unhelpful!

The bank would not change money without a passport (which the ship had kept for immigration to inspect) and they insisted that they required proof of permanent address (which isn’t on your passport anyway!). Although my photo driving licence has this, they wouldn’t accept it. They only accept German photo driving licences. I ask you! We found a bureau d’exchange where the assistant recited the rules but was intelligent enough to grasp that my photo driving licence, that contains my name, address, signature and photo was really sufficient. *sigh*. Then we went to a pharmacy and got IGNORED until we left. Call me petty, but I can take a flipping hint. They didn’t want our money, they didn’t have to have it. We later found plenty of lovely, friendly, helpful people who were more than happy to take our money. Funny that.

Lunch was divine. Anyone going to Cape Town should go to the Victoria and Alfred Wharf and find a restaurant called Societi. One of the best restaurants I’ve eaten in, and the service was brilliant. The waitress even helped us with information on tourist attractions and sightseeing buses. And they let me have a kids meal as I wasn’t very hungry. Mind you, if that’s a kid’s portion, I think Hagrid would have trouble eating an adult portion!

More pootling and sightseeing, including the Two Oceans Aquarium and an open-topped bus tour, which was expensive but brill. Then dinner at the Table Bay Hotel. Seriously posh, good quality food, and we all ate our fill and had change from forty quid. Amazing.

Creative writing ended at Cape Town as Katherine, our tutor, disembarked. She asked me to continue to run a session (why me?!) and I’ve asked the Powers That Be. They said, we’ll think about it after Christmas. And so we Wait.

Today was Port Elizabeth. Not much to see, but quite pleasant shopping and beautiful beaches. Overcast but warm, so I didn’t get burned today, which was nice.

Roast lamb for dinner today(stir-fry for lunch, yum!) and then we went up on deck to sing Christmas songs and carols as loud as possible, so that Santa could find the ship and bring us our presents. We even got given a present each by the Ship’s company but I can’t say what it is, in case someone who hasn’t opened theirs reads this! Suffice to say, it came in a box the size of a shoe box and I can’t find the hallmark.

Christmas party later (I am wearing the santa hat earrings, the santa red and white scrunchie and the red tinsel tied around my pony tail). Yippee! Then at midnight there is both an Anglican and a Catholic Midnight Mass and also services tomorrow morning. In the evening, the passenger choir will be doing our thing, which should be interesting!

Happy Christmas, everyone. Chanukah has finished and so has Divali, but happy those too. In fact, Happy Cheerfulmas, one and all .